Chapter 5

Avery

"Roman?" Ava asked, her eyes glittering with tease.

I shook my head slightly indicating that he wasn't the one on the phone.

"It looks like someone just remembered that I exist," I said, my voice sharp as a blade, hands clenching around the phone angrily.

"We need to meet, Avery," he said, his voice laced with a hint of frustration.

"Oh...you want to meet with a-nobody. To do what exactly?" I asked, holding myself back from going too overboard.

There were questions I needed him to give answers to, but then I felt little to no energy to engage him right away because the main thing that worried me was how I would get 10 thousand dollars for my brother's surgery.

"Avery, you have no idea what you have caused, do you?" He said quietly,the weight of his voice heavier than a shout.

My eyes rolled in their sockets at the way he sounded. If it were in the past I would have been so dead worried whenever he sounded that way but then he had proven that I wasn't important to him.

"You deserve whatever you think I might have caused, Cole," I said, the words slipping out, clipped and bitter, as my fingers curled in my palms.

"You want to know the reason behind it all, right?" he said, exhaling sharply as though the words weighed him down. "I promise to tell you the truth... if only you would meet and hear me out."

I felt I should hear him out but my heart wasn't taking it, he had pierced my heart and trust, he had lied to me all along that I was the only girl he would ever love and now he's talking about telling the truth. How would I know that whatever he spewed from that mouth of his was the truth and not lies.

"I'm not interested in knowing the truth again, Cole," I muttered, my jaw tightening even though my heart still begged for the reason he dumped me without letting me understand.

He was the first boyfriend I had, the first to tell me the three magic words, I love you. The first person my heart ever yearned for and the one I thought would spend forever with me. I wondered where it had all gone wrong. I guessed I was too naive and inexperienced for him to ditch me without notice or did he date me out of pity?

I was still curious and annoyed but my ego didn't want to hear any of it.

"You are the only one who can fix this," he said, his voice raising despite his efforts to stay calm. "I will explain in detail when we meet."

My heart softened a little at the way he sounded so desperate. I didn't know what I might have caused, hearing him plead for a meeting meant that it was a serious issue but If it weren't for this he wouldn't have reached out to me.

"I'm sorry for whatever I might have caused, but I have no intention of meeting you now or in the future. Consider this as an official breakup," I said with finality, cutting off the call.

"You did well, babe," Ava murmured, reaching out to squeeze my hand in reassurance.

I wiped the tears that threatened to break free from my eyes as Ava pulled me into a warm hug. "He doesn't deserve you," she muttered against my hair, her arms tightening around me as if she could shield me from the pain that plunged at my heart.

Ava's apartment was just like home, I could come over to crash anytime as long as she wasn't with her boyfriend. I stood up from the couch and headed to the bathroom to have my bath. After a very warm bath, I felt more refreshed and was getting dressed when Ava entered the room holding a small box with a teasing smirk on her face.

"You wouldn't believe who just brought this for you," Ava said, tilting her head as she watched my reaction, amusement dancing in her eyes.

I shot her a pointed gaze, "Who brought what? You know I'm not good with guesses," I said, throwing a knee length flowery dress over my body.

"I think Roman kind of likes you," she said,

My brows furrowed slightly, "I don't understand what you are saying, Ava. Can you just stop saying that already?"

"Okay then," she said, resting her back on the wall and waving a small box in my face. "Why did he send this to you then?"

She pulled a necklace from the bag. I recalled removing it last night. "I must have forgotten it at his place."

Ava's lips curled into a smirk, she was about to tease me again when the phone rang indicating a message notification. "Miss Avery, due to the delay in payment for your brother's medical bills. The hospital would like to discharge him right away so as not to incur additional fees."

My stomach sank as I read the message. I stood up immediately, strapping my bag on my shoulders. "I need to go to the hospital or anywhere I can get money," I said, my voice low.

"I'm so sorry, you have to go through all these, Avery," she said, her voice filled with concern.

I left Ava's place with a heavy heart, and worried that I might lose my only brother if I didn't do something to get money quickly. I had boarded a taxi not knowing where to go, but I found myself heading to my workplace again. I just couldn't let it go just when I was yet to get paid for the work I had done. Maybe I should just give in to my boss, it didn't matter again if I lost my virginity, as long as Danny lived.

"You can't meet him, Miss Avery. He gave orders that we shouldn't let you in,"the lady behind the desk said to me, her voice firm as she spoke.

"Just this once, please. I just need to discuss a very important issue with him," I pleaded, my fingers into my palms as restraint mixed with desperation.

The receptionist shrugged, her hands already hovering over the phone,"I think you should leave now. If not, I would be forced to call the security on you."

The little hope I had left dropped as I walked away, if only I could just get to see Mr. Dune and do whatever he wanted me to do so that I could get the money.

I was in a tight corner now and there was no way I would get that money. The thought of going to do part-time jobs dropped in my mind, but on a second thought, there was no way I was going to raise that huge amount of money through part-time jobs. I stood by the side waiting to see if he would come out of his office when I remembered Ava's words.

"No...I can't, I can't seduce my ex's uncle," I muttered, shaking my head even though the thought of going to meet him was strong in my heart.

At this point, I didn't care if he was my ex's uncle, I would go to whoever can help me. I had to save Danny somehow.

Curiosity made me reach out for my phone and search out his name on the net, and I was surprised by the amount of work he had done, and that he had achieved many things from a young age.

I raised my head from my phone and my eyes met with the receptionist who was boring holes into my bodies, giving me a cue to leave. I was about to turn to leave when I collided into someone.

"Avery?" A familiar but the least person I would want to see called.

"Cole," I said, his name slipping out of my lips bitterly.